


Trapped on Wayland

by Siarah



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Adventure, Gen, Han and Leia are a walking desaster, Humor, Mission Fic, They Just Don´t Know It Yet, but they love each other - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29350836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siarah/pseuds/Siarah
Summary: Another mission goes south. Han and Leia get captured and need to escape. Just bad that they are handcuffed together.
Relationships: Leia Organa & Han Solo
Kudos: 5





	Trapped on Wayland

**Author's Note:**

> Created for this prompt on [tumblr](https://leia-organa-fics.tumblr.com/): Han and Leia get arrested on some planet, but escape before the imperials can get there. The problem is Han and Leia were handcuffed together. Now they're forced to work very closely with each other in order to make it to the Falcon.

The door closed with a loud thud and suddenly, they were shrouded in darkness. Leia heard Han curse next to her. He let loose a string of Corellian swear words, before finishing with, “What a great situation you got us into, Your Royal Geniousness. Again.”

Her temper rose at that. “I got us into this situation? You were the one who had to shoot before thinking and alert everyone in the perimeter of one click to our presence.”

“If it wasn´t for your stubbornness, we would have never been here in the first place. I told you it was a bad idea, but did you listen to the smuggler who has been to Wayland before? No, of course not, because you always know best.”

Well, he did have a point there, but there was no way Leia would admit that. Instead, she threw him a haughty glare and said, “Most of the time, I do know best.”

“This time, you didn´t.”

“How about we find a way out of here, instead of appointing blame.”

In the darkness, she couldn´t see Han´s face, but in her mind, she could picture the half exasperated half angry look he must be throwing her right now. “Alright,” he snarled, “we´ll have enough time for finding the culprit once we´re outa here.”

The first obstacle was a pair of handcuffs that the smugglers who had caught them had put on them. Leia´s left arm was chained to Han´s right and as if that wasn´t bad enough already, the chain between the two cuffs had been tucked behind a pipe so that they couldn´t move away.

“Your hands are pretty small,” Han said. “Can you get out of the cuff?”

Leia tried to force her hand through the handcuff. She managed to get it to the middle of her palm, but no farther – even when she tugged at it with all her strength. Blood started to trickle down her wrist and still, she couldn´t get free. “No,” she finally admitted defeat. “We will have to break the pipe somehow.”

“Let´s try. On the count of three.”

Leia nodded, even though Han couldn´t see it in the darkness. She prepared herself. Her wrist was already aching, but it was nothing in comparison to what the Empire would do to them when they arrived.

“One,” Han started. “Two. Three.”

Both of them pulled forward with all their strength. The pipe creaked loudly. It didn´t yield though. They had to try two more times before it broke so suddenly that they fell forwards. With their hands still cuffed together, it was hard to brace her fall. Leia´s free hand buckled with a sickening crack and her forehead collided painfully with the floor. Pain shot through her wrist and her head so sharply, that she couldn´t suppress a scream.

“What was that?” Han groaned. Apparently, he hadn´t landed softly either. “Are you alright?”

Leia tried to move her right hand and had to stifle a whimper. Something was definitely broken. “I´ll survive,” she answered. “Wrist´s broken.”

“Sithspit,” Han cursed.

Leia just gritted her teeth. She´d survived worse. Getting up turned out to pose a real challenge though since she couldn´t support herself with her free hand and the other one was still chained to Han. He got up faster than her, and in the process pulled out her unhurt hand from under her so that she fell back down.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, before grabbing her waist with both hands and hauling her up next to him. Leia threw him an angry look. She didn´t like being handled like that, but she had to admit that she needed his help. And Force, how it irked her!

As soon as they were standing, they were faced with the next problem: the door to the room was locked and no amount of pushing or pulling could get it to open. In the end, they decided to wait until their capturers returned and then try to overpower them – with their hands still cuffed together and Leia injured, a very unlikely possibility.

“What if they only return to hand us over to the Imperials?” Han asked.

“We will deal with them too.” Leia didn´t really believe that, but her voice betrayed no doubt.

Unfortunately, Han wasn´t fooled that easily. “Yeah, fat chance they´ll let us get away that easily. Not with the bounty on your head, sweetheart.”

“Then we better hope our capturers will stop by before that. We could try screaming …”

“Your plan is to annoy them into letting us go?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of pretending that you passed out and won´t wake up anymore. Scream for them to help you.”

“Huh.” Leia felt more than saw Han shrug. “We might as well try that. Would be better if I was the one who´s screaming though. Your bounty is higher. They want you alive for sure.”

“But they probably don´t see me as a threat, so if I´m the one who´s screaming they might let their guard down.”

“Won´t help us if they don´t show up,” Han drawled. “You´re the star prize here, princess.”

“Don´t say that like it´s something good.”

“It´s something to be proud of. You´re enough of a royal pain in Vader´s –“

Leia cut him off. “Don´t finish that sentence.”

“Of course, Your Daintiness. Wouldn´t want to hurt your sensibilities.”

“Are you going to put some action behind all that talk or was it just your ego who thought it could take on those smugglers?”

Han sounded actually offended when he snapped, “You better hope it wasn´t just my ego talking. With that broken wrist of yours, you´re not gonna be much help.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” she bit back sarcastically. “I was beginning to think it was just hurting to spite me.” Damn, she hadn´t meant to say that out loud, but there was no chance of taking it back now.

Han didn´t comment on her slip, but his voice turned soft. “We better get outa here before the Imperials arrive.”

Leia nodded grimly.

The door was so old-fashioned that it had to be opened manually with a latch. Unfortunately, it was opening outwards so that they couldn´t hide behind it. Instead, they chose to wait on the side opposite the hinges. As soon as they were in position, Han started screaming for help. It took a couple of minutes, but then they heard fast steps approaching. Leia´s body tensed in anticipation of a fight. Han was right: She might not be much help, but that was no excuse not to try. More than anything else, even more than a princess or a rebel, she was a fighter.

For once, luck was on their side. When the door opened, only one of the smugglers entered. He was humanoid and only slightly taller than Leia. When he realized the prisoners weren´t where they were supposed to be, he froze for a second. It was enough time for Han to hit him in the face and for Leia to kick him between the legs. With a strangled cry, he fell to the ground.

Leia went to bend down and search him for keys or a weapon, but she didn´t take Han into account. He didn´t move down with her so that her left arm jerked upwards when she kneeled. She managed to suppress a surprised yelp and threw Han an angry glare.

He huffed. “How was I supposed to know you were goin´ to do that?”

Instead of answering, Leia pulled on her arm to get him to come down to her level. He huffed again and mumbled something about bossy princesses but complied. Together they searched the unconscious being. He didn´t have any keys on him except the ones for the door, but he did carry a blaster. When Leia reached for it, Han beat her to it. She tried to take it out of his hand, but he was faster again. “How do you even want to shoot that thing with one of your hands cuffed and the other one broken?”

“Can you shoot with your left hand?” she asked in return.

“Are you tryin´ to offend me?”

Leia raised an eyebrow and stared him down.

He scoffed. “I can shoot with my left hand and both eyes closed, sister.”

“I will believe that when I see it, flyboy,” she replied unimpressed.

“You better prepare yourself to be amazed then.”

Leia rolled her eyes and started walking down the hallway, leaving Han no choice but to follow her.

They were currently underground, in the basement of the smugglers´ hideout. If Leia remembered their way to the cell correctly, they should reach the stairs after taking the third turn right and then turning left immediately. Upstairs, it would be a little more complicated, but she was fairly sure that she remembered the way even if some details were blurry. Outside, they´d simply have to find their way through approximately ten klicks of unknown rainforest to the Falcon – with no conception of the local wildlife, no GPS, and no way to contact Chewie. A piece of cake.

With their route outlined in her mind, Leia focused on their surroundings again. The building was so old that the walls were made of stone entirely. The corridor was only sparely lit, but she could see moss and what seemed to be a strange kind of fungus growing on the edges of the floor. The smugglers either didn´t care about basic hygiene or they weren´t good enough at their job to afford even a simple mouse droid. She didn´t think about what it meant that they had still managed to capture them … dumb luck, nothing more.

They reached the stairs without hindrance and had just started to make their way up when the sound of voices made them falter. Two men were talking in a language that Leia didn´t recognize. What she did recognize though was that the voices were coming closer.

There was no place to hide on the narrow stairs. As soon as the men reached the top, they would see them. Han would probably be able to shoot them before they could draw their weapons, but that would mean alerting the other smugglers to their escape.

Leia hectically looked around for a way out. The bottom of the stairs was only a couple of steps away. She elbowed Han to get his attention before pointing down. He nodded. Together, they sneaked back down and hid in a dark alcove.

It wasn´t long before the steps reached them. White armour glimmered in the sparse light. Stormtroopers. Han´s body tensed next to her and he lifted his blaster, but Leia put her hand on his arm to stop him. If he fired a shot now, their only way out would be crowded by more Stormtroopers in seconds, taking away every chance of escape. Luckily, Han complied and refrained from shooting.

Leia held her breath, as the Stormtroopers walked past them. She could have reached out and touched them. The troopers would only have to glance in their direction to catch them, but they were too preoccupied with their conversation to notice anything else.

As soon as the two soldiers had taken a turn, Leia and Han hurried up the stairs. They had at best a couple of minutes left before their absence would be noticed. This time they managed to get upstairs without interruption. There, the stone walls gave way to more modern looking corridors. They had to stop for a couple of seconds to orientate themselves before they could move on.

It was still awkward to walk while being chained together and Han had to slow down his steps for Leia to able to keep up with him, but they had found a rhythm that worked. Years of sharing close quarters, fighting for their lives together, and intimate moments of friendship had prepared them for a situation like this. Their harmonious movements steered a strange feeling in Leia´s chest. She didn´t know what to make of it and figured she didn´t have time to think about it anyways so that she stored it away somewhere in the back of her mind.

Circa two minutes had passed since they had made their way up the stairs when loud voices announced that their escape had been noticed. Leia cursed under her breath. She wasn´t surprised, but she had hoped that they would get more time.

Without any warning at all, someone suddenly stepped out of a door and into the corridor in front of them. Before Leia could fully realize what was going on, Han had already fired and the being tumbled to the floor.

“And you doubted my abilities,” he said cockily.

“Lucky hit.” Leia went to resume her jog but was halted when Han stayed frozen in place.

“Lucky hit?” he asked incredulously. “I´m one hell of a shot.”

“Of course, you are. Do you need me to soothe your ego further or can we get out of here now?”

Huffing indignantly, Han let her pull him along. “As you wish, Your Worship.”

All around them, they could hear alarmed voices and heavy steps, but somehow, they made it to the exit without being seen. Luck seemed to be on their side because there was no one guarding the door. They couldn´t see what was outside though. There were no windows nearby to check. Leia shared a look with Han. “You think there´s someone outside?” she asked.

“Just one way to find out.” Without further ado, Han pressed the switch next to the door. Sunlight greeted them as it slid open. They weren´t immediately subjected to blaster fire, so that was a good sign.

Leia´s eyes took a couple of seconds to acclimate to the changed lighting. When they finally did, she cursed. Only fifty meters away from them, there were two AT-DPs, and as if that wasn´t bad enough already, a whole Squad of Stormtroopers was standing next to the walkers. The soldiers hadn´t seen them yet, but between the smuggler´s hideout and the jungle, there were a hundred meters of open terrain. There was no way to reach the safety of the jungle without the Stormtroopers seeing them. They could maybe try to get to the other side of the building and enter the forest from there, but that would cost them valuable time that they didn’t have.

“Think we should make a run for it?” Han asked, interrupting her thoughts.

“We might have no other option.”

“Alright. No time like the present, I guess. You ready, princess?”

Leia took a couple of deep breaths. Adrenalin surged through her veins, washing away all traces of doubt. Her muscles started to tremble in anticipation of the mad dash for escape they were about to make. “Let´s do it,” she said.

On the count of three, they started running. For a couple of seconds, all that Leia could sense was her own laboured breathing and the throbbing of her pulse in her broken wrist. Then someone screamed and blaster fire started to riddle the ground to their right. Han and Leia upped their tempo. They were still around fifty meters away from the safety of the jungle when suddenly with a loud clang the ground started to shake. Leia risked a glance over her shoulder. One of the walkers was following them. She felt more than saw it get ready to fire. On instinct, she pushed Han to the side. The impact threw him out of balance, and he fell, pulling Leia down with him. The second they hit the ground a green laser beam shredded the place where they had just been.

Hectically, they scrambled to their feet again. Han had to half drag Leia up because of her broken wrist. They resumed running but the walker´s loud thumps came closer fast. Leia´s lungs started burning as they accelerated their tempo once more.

Only thirty more meters. Then the walker wouldn´t be able to follow them anymore. The jungle was way too dense for it to move freely.

Twenty more meters. Leia´s breaths were coming out as short gasps and she had a stitch in her side.

Ten meters. Somewhere behind them, a speeder bike started. The Stormtroopers were still riddling the ground around them with bullets but miraculously none hit them. Somehow, as if guided by an invisible hand, Leia always knew when they had to dodge.

Then they finally reached the safety of the trees. All of a sudden, the battle sounds seemed far away and not so threatening anymore. The sunlight was tinted green by the leaves. Leia felt a sense of calm wash over her as they continued to run through the jungle.

The calm didn´t last long though.

It took only seconds until the speeder bikes were closing in on them again.

In the dense jungle, the speeder bikes couldn´t go too fast without risking a collision, but they could still go a lot faster than Han and Leia could on foot so that they were coming closer fast. The both of them shared a helpless look. “We can´t outrun them,” Leia said, “but maybe we can ambush them.” With those words, she pulled Han behind the trunk of a huge tree.

“Let´s hope you´re right, princess,” he whispered.

Leia ignored his comment. “Did you see how many bikes they had?”

“I think it was two but I´m not entirely sure.”

“Think you can take them out with that blaster you were so adamant about taking?”

Han didn´t get the chance to reply – verbally, at least. Announced by its engine´s loud roar, one of the bikes shot past the tree they were hiding behind. It didn´t even take Han a second to aim the blaster at their pursuer and take him out, all without damaging the speeder. Leia would never admit it out loud but he really was one hell of a shot.

The speeder came to an abrupt halt as its pilot slumped over. Han shot Leia a triumphant grin. “Second ‘lucky hit’ today. Looks like a pattern,” said smugly.

“Three´s a pattern. Two´s simply a coincidence.”

“Good thing there´s another one chasing us then. Can you steer the bike with your broken wrist?”

Leia grimaced. “I can try. Otherwise, I´ll do it onehanded.”

“Good enough.”

Behind them, they could already hear the sound of another pursuer approaching. They hurried to the speeder bike. Han pushed the former pilot off of it and helped Leia onto the bike. Because of their chained hands, he couldn´t sit normally but had to do it backward. As Leia reached for the handlebars, one of his arms was pulled behind awkwardly. “At least, I can´t fall off,” he groaned. Leia refrained from pointing out that he could very well fall off and then be dragged behind the speeder.

With her good hand, she pulled the accelerator throttle and the bike started with a jump. She had misjudged the amount of force she used though so that they already went way too fast before she even knew what was happening. It was pure luck that she managed to dodge all the trees in their way – especially with her broken hand that only loosely lay on the handlebar.

“What are you doing?” Han screamed from behind her.

“Trying not to get us killed.”

“Try harder!”

Leia didn´t deem that exclamation worthy of an answer. She reduced their speed until she felt confident that she could pilot them safely, then she emerged herself in the task of reaching the Falcon. She knew the approximate direction they had to go in but there were no landmarks to further orient herself by. All she could do was hope they were on the right track.

The shot of a blaster broke her concentration. The bolt hit the tree next to them. Behind her, Leia could feel Han shift before starting to shoot back. She itched to turn around and see what was happening, but while driving that just wasn´t a good idea.

“Now would be a good time for the third lucky hit,” she yelled.

“Luck has nothing to do with it!”

“So you keep saying, but you don´t seem to be able to back it up.”

“You just wait and see, Your Royal Annoyingness.”

Despite their situation, Leia grinned. It was way too easy to rile Han up. The slightest hit against his skill and he jumped into full-on defensive mode. The nicknames he managed to come up with for her were just the cherry on top.

Suddenly, the speeder bike shuddered under them. “We´re hit!” Han yelled.

Leia cursed in Alderaanian. “How bad is it?”

“We´re gonna blow up any minute.”

“No reason to worry then.”

“None at all. You´re traveling with me, after all.”

She rolled her eyes. “In your dreams, nerf-herder.”

The jungle around them hadn´t changed one bit … It was still dense and green. No sign of the Falcon. Where was that kriffing piece of scrap when you needed it?

That left only one option. “Watch out,” Leia yelled.

“For wha-“ Han couldn´t finish his sentence because she had already pulled the breaks with full force. The speeder bike came to a halt immediately. Han who had in fact not watched out – couldn´t he ever do what she told him? – fell off with a surprised yelp and pulled Leia with him. They landed on the ground in a heap of entangled limbs. Leia´s wrist throbbed painfully from the impact but she didn´t give herself the time to process it.

Her instincts were screaming at her to get up. The second speeder bike was still chasing them after all. Lying on the ground like that, they made an all too easy target. And then there was the little fact that their own speeder bike which was still right next to them might explode any minute. She tried to get up but with her wrist chained to Han´s and their limbs still entangled she couldn´t. Han wasn´t any help either. He seemed to be dazed from their fall. Maybe he had hit his head.

Their pursuer was only twenty meters away. A blaster bolt hit the ground directly next to Leia´s head. They were so screwed.

Then she saw the blaster. Han must have dropped it during his fall. Without thinking about it Leia grabbed the weapon with her chained hand and fired one single shot.

A scream rang out, followed by an explosion. She lifted her head and saw a ball of fire where only seconds ago their pursuer had been.

“Lucky hit,” Han groaned.

In the quiet of her mind, Leia couldn´t help agreeing with him. Lucky hit, indeed. She hadn´t even had time to look what she was shooting at. What she said though was, “You can thank me later for saving your skin. Right now we need to get up.”

They started the tedious process of getting untangled and in a position where their chained hands weren´t too much of a bother before Han got up and helped her to her feet. They hurried away from their speeder bike which, by now, was engulfed by black smoke. Not a second too soon. Just as they had gotten away about five meters it exploded.

Han didn´t even spare it a look. “Just to get it straight: If you hadn´t stopped like that, there wouldn´t have been any need to ‘save my skin’ in the first place.”

Leia shot him an exasperated look. “I warned you.”

“A warning only counts if you mention what you´re warning against.”

“Would you have rather still sat on that speeder bike when it exploded?”

“You´re infuriating,” Han replied.

Leia took that to mean that she had won this argument. With a complacent grin, she pulled him in the direction where she thought the Falcon was.

She turned out to be wrong – not by much, but enough so that it took them two hours to finally get back to the ship. When they arrived, Chewie greeted them with bone-crushing hugs. He had been worried and swore to not let them out of his sight again. Leia couldn´t fault him for that. It was pure luck that they had escaped and relatively unharmed too.

As soon as they were safely in hyperdrive, Chewie was tasked with finally getting them out of the handcuffs. While doing so, he was laughing at them the whole time. Apparently, it was a miracle that they hadn´t killed each other. It took half an hour but then they were free again.

“Finally,” Leia couldn´t help comment. “Thank the Force.”

Han shot her an indignant look. “There are worse people you could have been chained to,” he muttered.  
“I can´t think of any.”

“That Lieutenant who keeps accidentally spilling drinks on you.”

“You´ve got a point there. He´s a nervous wreck.”

“Only when he´s near you.” He winked at her. “Can´t blame him for that.”

“You´re right.” Leia smirked. Spending so much time with Han definitely had a bad influence on her. “I am extraordinarily amazing.”

“Let´s not get a big head now.”

“Are you saying I´m not amazing?” Leia asked looking at him faux hurt.

“I would never dare.”

“So I am amazing?”

“When you´re not being bossy and annoying.”

“Thank you. You have your moments, too … When you´re not being an insufferable scoundrel that is.” With those words she left Han standing stunned in the Falcon´s lounge and joined Chewie in the cockpit.


End file.
